A Delight, A Madness!

April 10, 2015

“The Wombat is a Joy, a Triumph, a Delight, a Madness!” ~ Dante Gabriel Rossetti

Once again, regular readers will know that Friday means #WombatFriday! A day of celebrating the Pre-Raphaelites with silliness and a spirit of fun. Artist Dante Gabriel Rossetti had a lifelong love for wombats and his enthusiasm for them spread among other Pre-Raphaelite artists. Edward Burne-Jones drew countless cartoons of them and one was recently found on a hidden mural in William Morris’ Red House. Yesterday was the anniversary of Rossetti’s death, so to spread the joy of wombats seems a fitting thing to do in his honor. You can follow along at the Pre-Raphaelite Sisterhood Facebook page or by using the #wombatfriday hashtag on Twitter (you can find me there as @beguilingmerlin). For more in depth explanations of Wombat Friday see Celebrating Wombat Friday by Raine Szramski and Wombat Friday by Kirsty Stonell Walker.

Burne-Jones’ drawing of a wombat.

For those of you who are new to Wombat Fridays, it all started in January 25,2013 when I posted several pictures of wombats with cake and books in a spur of the moment celebration of the upcoming weekend. From that, a silly conversation began on twitter and my friend Madeleine Pearce (@nouveaudigital) tweeted the hashtag #wombatfriday. And #WombatFriday was born. Museums, libraries, several William Morris societies, authors, and Pre-Raphaelite enthusiasts from all over the world have all joined in on the antics. We are unstoppable. As Rossetti said, wombats are a madness and it is spreading.

Dante Gabriel Rossetti laments the death of his wombat

Lately, I have been using Wombat Fridays as a chance to share weekly links to all the latest Pre-Raphaelite and Victorian happenings online, so here’s this week’s treats:

Valerie Meachum has continued her vlog, this time with a very special video about Pre-Raphaelite bloggers. I am honored to be included and consider each of these ladies my sisters. Thank you, Valerie.

Stephanie Graham Piña is an independent scholar whose research focuses on Victorian Art, especially the Pre-Raphaelites. In 2004 she created LizzieSiddal.com, a resource for those interested in the life of Pre-Raphaelite model and painter Elizabeth Siddal. She established her website ‘The Pre-Raphaelite Sisterhood’ in 2007 to highlight the work of women artists associated with the Pre-Raphaelite Circle. Through her popular online publications, she has been a leading advocate of independent research and discourse on Victorian art.